ATP Finals format: how qualification, the groups and the tiebreaks work

The Nitto ATP Finals close the men's season with the eight best singles players and the eight best doubles teams of the year. Each field is split into two groups of four, everyone plays the other three in his group, and the top two from each group go into semi-finals and a final. The 2026 edition is played from 15 to 22 November at the Inalpi Arena in Turin.

Who qualifies for the ATP Finals?

Qualification runs through the ATP Race to Turin, the standings that count only the current season's points. The 2026 rulebook (section 4.01 B) fixes the cut-off as the Monday after the Rolex Paris Masters, which in 2026 is played from 2 to 8 November, so the list is settled on Monday 9 November. Results from tour events in the week after Paris no longer count towards qualification for that year's Finals; they go towards entry for the following year's, though they still count for the seeding.

From that list the field is filled in a fixed order:

1. The top seven players qualify.
2. The eighth place goes to a Grand Slam champion of the same year who is placed between eighth and 20th. If two champions are in that range, the higher-placed one plays and the other becomes the alternate.
3. If no champion is in that range, the eighth player in the standings takes the last place.

A Grand Slam champion who has fallen outside the top 20 by November is not exempted, and the ATP's rankings FAQ adds that a protected ranking cannot be used to enter. Participation is mandatory for the eight. Each must be in Turin for the official pre-tournament media conference, and a qualifier or the alternate who fails to appear at it is fined 5 per cent of his total ATP prize money for the season. A player who does not take part without a genuine injury or other good cause also loses his good standing.

What happens when a player withdraws?

A player who withdraws before the pre-tournament media conference is replaced by the next player on the list, who becomes a full qualifier. At the media conference, the next player on the list who has not qualified is designated the alternate: he must attend it too and stay available until the last group match starts, and he replaces anyone who withdraws during the week. The ATP can name further alternates from the list if it needs them, but their participation is voluntary.

An alternate who comes in for a player's second or third group match keeps the alternate fee and adds whatever prize money and points he wins; one who replaces a player before his first match counts as a direct entrant and receives no alternate fee. Either way, an alternate who finishes in the top two of his group plays the semi-final. A player who withdraws from a group match after the first round of matches cannot go on to the semi-finals.

In 2026 the replacement rule came into play before the field was complete. Jannik Sinner, the champion in 2024 and 2025, became the first player to qualify on 10 July, ended his season with a knee injury on 6 October and will not play in Turin, so his place goes to the next player on the list of 9 November. As of 19 October three singles players had qualified: Alexander Zverev on 6 August, Carlos Alcaraz on 16 September, as the Australian Open champion once a top-20 place could no longer be taken from him, and Ben Shelton on 18 October, which left five places open. The field, the Race and the groups for this year are kept on our ATP Finals 2026 page.

How are the groups drawn?

The eight are seeded on the rankings of the Monday after the season's last regular tour event. The first seed goes into one group and the second seed into the other; seeds three and four, five and six, and seven and eight are then drawn in pairs, with the first name of each pair going into the first group.

Every singles match is the best of three sets with a tiebreak in each, the final included.

How are ties in a group broken?

After three matches each, the standings in a group are decided by the first of these methods that separates the players, as set out in the rulebook and on the official rules page:

1. Most wins.
2. Most matches played, which matters only after a withdrawal: a 2–1 record beats 2–0, and 1–2 beats 1–0.
3. If two players are level, their head-to-head result in the group.
4. If three players are level with one win each, a player who did not complete all three matches is eliminated and the match between the other two decides.
5. Otherwise, the highest percentage of sets won, then the highest percentage of games won, then the ATP ranking of the Monday after the season's last tour event. At the games step, too, a player who did not complete all three matches is eliminated and the match between the other two decides.
6. If one of those steps separates only the top or only the bottom player, the remaining two are split by their head-to-head result.

In one of the rulebook's worked examples, three players finish with two wins each and the fourth with none. One of the three has won five sets and lost two (71.43 per cent), the other two are 4–3 in sets (57.14 per cent); the first wins the group, and the match between the other two decides the runner-up. A retirement or default counts as a straight-sets result in this arithmetic, but the games of that match are left out of the games percentage, so a player who needs only one set cannot win it and then stop.

How do the semi-finals and final work?

Each group winner plays the runner-up of the other group in the semi-finals, and the two winners meet in the final. There is no match for third place.

The 2026 group matches run from Sunday 15 to Friday 20 November, the semi-finals on Saturday 21 and both finals on Sunday 22 November; the session times are on our ATP Finals 2026 page.

How does the doubles event work?

The doubles event follows the same structure: eight teams, two groups of four, semi-finals and a final. Entry comes from the PIF ATP Doubles Team Rankings on the same Monday after Paris, with the top seven teams in and the eighth place reserved for a Grand Slam-winning team of that year placed between eighth and 20th. A player who qualifies with two different partners chooses which team he plays with.

Doubles matches are two sets with no-ad scoring and a match tiebreak to ten points at one set all; in the tiebreak percentages a won match tiebreak counts as one set and one game. Among the first teams to qualify for 2026 were Harri Heliövaara and Henry Patten, Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos, and the US Open champions Christian Harrison and Neal Skupski.

How many points are on offer?

Points are earned per match won rather than by the round reached, as the official points table sets out:

A champion who lost one group match collects 1,300. In singles the Finals count as a 19th result on top of the 18 that make up a player's ranking; in doubles they are one of a player's best 18 results.

How does the prize money work?

Every player receives a participation fee scaled to the number of group matches he plays, and each win adds a fixed bonus, with the semi-final and the final worth far more than a group match; the alternate is paid a fee for standing by. In 2025 the event paid a record $15.5 million in total, and an undefeated singles champion earned $5,071,000. On 19 October 2026 the ATP had not yet published the figures for 2026 and the official page still showed the 2025 tables. The full breakdown for singles and doubles, and how it compares with the Grand Slams, is in our guide to ATP Finals prize money.

Where are the ATP Finals played?

The Finals have been played in Turin since 2021, at the arena now called the Inalpi Arena; 2026 is the sixth edition there. In July 2026 the ATP and the Italian Tennis and Padel Federation extended the Turin contract through 2027 and confirmed that the event stays in Italy through 2030, with Nitto as title partner; where it is played after 2027 had not been decided. The same announcement said seating in the arena would rise to more than 13,500. The roll of honour and records are on our tournament page, and its place in the season among the Grand Slams and Masters events is part of our guide to how the ATP Tour works.